Published: 19/Dec/2017
Source: Morocco World News

By Amira El Masaiti

Rabat – Foreigners married to Moroccan women and living in the kingdom will soon be allowed to obtain Moroccan citizenship, after the government discussed the possibility of amending Article 10 of the Moroccan nationality code, which only allows spouses of Moroccan men to obtain citizenship.

To date, Moroccan citizenship law only allows foreign women married to a Moroccan citizen, with regular and continuous residence in Morocco for at least 5 years, to obtain citizenship. However, a bill presented to the parliament on November 17, wants to amend the article to extend citizenship acquirement to foreign men as well.

The parties of the government majority consider that the restriction of granting nationality to foreign men married to Moroccan women to be “discriminatory.”

The authors of the bill argued that Article 10 excluded foreign men due to “religious, social and historical circumstances,” which are “old fashioned now, as Moroccan society continues to evolve with the evolution of the Family Code.”